No. 62. — 1909.] JWANA VASISHTAM. 



317 



What is the state incorruptible ? Ye sages know it. Declare it 

 unto me. I want neither food nor drink nor sleep. I will not 

 perform religious rites nor royal duties. Come weal, come woe. 

 I care not. I stand still, doing nothing. I welcome death." 



Such an appeal it was impossible to resist, and the discourses 

 which constitute the J nana Vdsishtam were the answer. 



Hi. — Story of Sttkar. 1 



The first discourse is attributed to Visvamitra, who relates 

 to Rama the story of Sukar and comments upon it. Though 

 short, it is interesting in more respects than one. It shows 

 that in those times, as now, though not generally known, the 

 Brahmins were not the sole custodians of spiritual knowledge, 

 but were even glad to seek it from men of other castes, as in 

 this instance from one of the royal caste. Indeed it would 

 appear from the Chandogya Upanishad, V., 3, 7, that in 

 ancient Vedic times a Brahmin was not deemed fit to receive 

 instruction in the mysteries of spiritual knowledge. A 

 Brahmin is there represented as seeking instruction from a 

 king who tells him that no Brahmin was ever taught such 

 knowledge, this being reserved for the Kshattriya or the 

 royal caste. The king was, however, induced to make an 

 exception in this instance. The fact that verses so 

 prejudicial to the interest and dignity of the Brahmin caste 

 occur in writings, which now for three thousand years have 

 been in their sole charge, is remarkable, and is strong testi- 

 mony to the authenticity of this particular Upanishad. 



The term Brahmin had once a purely spiritual meaning, 

 viz., one who had seen God (Brahm, or the Supreme). Any 

 one of whatever caste who had attained the vision or know- 

 ledge of God, was called a Brahmin. The descendants of such 

 men gradually crystallized into a caste, which after a time lost 

 all spiritual culture and even came to be regarded as unfit to 

 receive spiritual instruction. The Brahmins, as a caste, then 

 became what they are now, ritual priests, whose duty is to 

 conduct public worship in the temples and to perform the 

 countless domestic ceremonies of the Hindus. The aim of this 

 ritual is to develop spiritual life in the laity and prepare the 



1 This is the Tamil form, in the honorific plural, of the Sanskrit $uka. 



